Objectives To evaluate the detection rate of congenital heart defects (CHD) in a non-selected population and to follow outcome after diagnosis. Methods

Objectives

Few studies have addressed the prenatal detection rate of congenital heart defects in a non-selected population at 18 weeks of gestation. Our objective was to assess the change in the prenatal detection rate of congenital heart defects in such a population that resulted from incorporating the four-chamber view at the second-trimester routine ultrasound examination. The prenatal detection rate of heart defects was prospectively compared between 4435 fetuses in Phase I who were scanned without special attention to the heart, and 7459 fetuses in Phase II who were scanned incorporating the four-chamber view. Of the 49 heart defects in Phase 1, 17 (35%) were critical and three (18%) of these were detected prenatally. Of the 90 heart defects in Phase II, 23 (26%) were critical, six (26%) of these were detected prenatally at the 18 weeks' routine scan, and three were detected in the third trimester, providing a total prenatal detection rate of 39%. A defect was classified as critical when a surgical repair was likely to be required because of gross structural complexity having a functional significance, e.g. transposition of the great arteries, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, atrioventricular septal defect, coarctation of the aorta, and large ventricular septal defect. No non-critical heart defects were detected prenatally in either of the phases. The incidences in the total population were 11 and 12/1000 in Phases I and II, respectively. Thirty-two per cent of the critical and 16% of the non-critical defects had associated abnormalities and/or abnormal karyotype.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

This study confirms a good correlation between ultrasound and autopsy diagnoses in fetuses and infants with congenital heart defects. A significant improvement in the detection of heart defects occurred from the first time period to the second and was probably due to increased experience and technical advances.

Objective To investigate cardiac function from 14 weeks' gestation in fetuses of obese pregnant women (FOW